How do American elections work? 301separately, usually in different years.) Senate candidates compete throughout the state;
House candidates compete in congressional districts. In most states, congressional
district lines are drawn by state legislatures. In a few states, nonpartisan commissions
perform this function. Redistricting can happen at any time, but in general, district
lines are revised after each census to make sure the boundary lines reflect shifts in
population across and within states. (For details on redistricting, see Chapter 11.)
Because members of the House and Senate are elected from specific geographic
areas, they often represent very different kinds of people. Their constituents differ
in terms of age, race, income level, occupation, and political leaning, including party
affiliation and ideology. Therefore, legislators from different areas of the country face
highly diverse demands from their constituents, which often leads them to pursue very
dissimilar kinds of policies.
For example, Democratic senator Charles Schumer, one of the senators from New
York, represents a fairly liberal state, where most people take some sort of pro-choice
position on abortion rights, while Republican senator Richard Shelby is one of the
senators from the conservative state of Alabama, where most voters have long been
opposed to abortions. Suppose the Senate votes on a proposal to ban all abortions
after the twelfth week of pregnancy. Shelby knows that most of his constituents would
probably want him to vote for the proposal, and Schumer knows that most of his
constituents would probably want him to vote against it. This example illustrates that
congressional conflicts over policy often reflect differences in constituents’ demands.
Schumer and Shelby themselves may hold different views on abortion rights, but
even if they agreed, their constituents’ distinct demands would make it likely that as
legislators they would vote differently.
Most House and Senate contests involve plurality voting: the candidate who gets the
most votes wins. However, some states use majority voting, meaning that a candidate
needs a majority (more than 50 percent of the vote) to win. If no candidate has a majority,
a runoff election takes place between the top two finishers. Some candidates have lost
runoff elections even though they received the most votes in the first contest.Ballots and Vote Counting Americans vote using a variety of machines and ballot
structures based on where they live. States either use electronic touch screen voting
machines, usually with some sort of paper receipt to allow manual recounts, or have
voters fill out paper ballots that are then scanned and recorded. When the polls close,
workers transcribe vote totals from the various machines, then hand-carry the totals and
individual ballots or receipts to county boards of election, where totals are aggregated
and sent to state agencies, which certify the results. The process is largely run by
volunteers, with both major parties having participants or observers at all stages.Many different mechanisms are used
to record votes in American elections,
including paper keypunch ballots and
touch screens (left). The design of the
infamous butterfly ballot (right), which
was used in the 2000 presidential
election to vote in Palm Beach County,
Florida, inadvertently led some people
who intended to vote for Democrat Al
Gore to select Reform Party candidate
Patrick Buchanan.plurality voting
A voting system in which the
candidate who receives the most
votes within a geographic area wins
the election, regardless of whether
that candidate wins a majority (more
than half ) of the votes.majority voting
A voting system in which a candidate
must win more than 50 percent
of votes to win the election. If no
candidate wins enough votes to
take office, a runoff election is held
between the top two vote-getters.runoff election
Under a majority voting system, a
second election is held only if no
candidate wins a majority of the votes
in the first general election. Only
the top two vote-getters in the first
election compete in the runoff.Full_10_APT_64431_ch09_296-339.indd 301 16/11/18 1:43 PM